We believe that learning about caring for nature from an early age is essential to a child's education.

Early this year Ordnance Survey mapped the Wet footpaths in Speckled Wood. .

Sign now and demand that this ancient woodland becomes a protected SSI,LNF.

WE ARE LOSING OUR WOODLAND.

The Woodland we all depend on is disappearing fast.

In the last 100 years, we’ve lost as much as two hundred percent of the natural woodlands that surround us. This has shrunk so fast that scientists say it’s now in a ‘death spiral’.

For over fifty years, The woodland has been a permanent feature of
the Ore Village. It is now disappearing in small chunks being eroded by developers and greedy business, all trying to make money of a beautiful woodland ghyll. This would be not only devastating for
the people, badgers foxes , jays, wood peckers and other species that live
there - but for the rest of us too.

The canopy of Speckled Wood operates as a carbon soak for the surrounding area exchanging the carbon for oxygen which is something we all need to breath. Protecting the woodland means protecting us all.

"5th November 2012 Hastings Borough Council Cabinet turned down a proposal bought via petition from FOSWMT and 1231 responses from the public to save the entire woodland . The Labour Councillors all voting to allow some development even though it was deemed not possible."

YOU CAN SAVE OUR WOODLAND

There is no government or legal status to protect the Speckled Wood, only
developers and companies looking to carve it up. Help us plant a tree for
the future at Speckled Wood.

There are seven billion of us on our planet. Each and
every one of us is affected by the health of the countries woodlands: by providing
co2 by transpiration through the trees leaves.

But our woodland is the frontline for development by -
unscrupulous companies all out to make money instead of protecting our natural resources.

By stopping development in our woodland we are
creating the conditions for a radical change in how we power our lives,
accelerating the desire and need for people to enjoy these spaces with their
children.

We know we’re going up against the most powerful companies and
Local Authorities Local Design Framework and Development Management
Plan in the local area, .

But together we have something stronger than any
company or any countries budget. Our shared concern for the
planet which we leave our children transcends all the borders that divide us
and makes us - together - the most powerful force today.

That is why we’re taking your name - and hundreds of
others - to our woodland with a tree for the future designed by the
youth of the world. It will show that our shared vision of a green,
peaceful, healthy planet depends on keeping our woodland protected by us all.

But the tree is only a symbol. We’ll be taking your voice
to every political leader in the country to ask them where they stand on
Speckled Wood. One by one, as our movement gathers momentum, we’ll turn
towards the government , where we’ll demand a deal to protect
Speckled Wood.

"17th December 2012 Hastings Borough Full Council ignored the petition from FOSWMT and 1231 responses from the public to save the entire woodland . The Labour Councillors all voting to approve the Local Authorities Development Management Plan disregarding the public petitions."

Conflict

Friends of Speckled wood and other residents groups are fighting this battle on their own.

For 12 years residents groups launched a similar campaign to protect
Speckled Wood. Nobody thought they would succeed, but the area has remained undeveloped. Now the stakes are higher and more land is becoming harder to find for development despite the large quantity of empty housing and we need your support more than ever.

Friends of Speckled Wood was formed in 2012 after members of other residential groups did not feel that there was enough public knowledge of the woodlands issues. Friends of Speckled Wood worked with the local council in 2012 to provide their consultation resources to bring the woodland to the attention of the local council with 1231 responses in favour of keeping it a natural woodland.

The Trust adopted the woodland maintance and started to manage the woodland in accordance with its Management Report. This shed light on the vast quantity of invasive Japanese Knot Weed. A report was commisioned this enabled The Trust to identify and manage this issue. Members of the Trust and members of the community
improved the footpaths putting several lorry loads of Wood
Chippings on the pathways.

In November 2012 Friends of Speckled Wood became a
Trust so that it could attempt to purchase the
woodland should the local council not have the finances.

In January 2013 The Trust presented a case to Ordnance
Survey in which they asked for the wet footpaths to be
mapped by their state-of-the-art GPS system Trimble. After
much discussion about map sizes. The wet pathways were
mapped in March this year. The Trust are told it will take
six weeks to populate all of the Geographic map sites.
This data including the footpaths was distributed yesterday
16th April 2013.

Early 2013 whilst the start of conducting this online vote.
The Trust were told by the Local Autorities Development
Forward Planning team that the designation of the woodland
could be changed if The Trust contacted Natural England
with details of the woodland. Preliminary discussions have
been made.

April 2013 The Trust repaired one of the existing bridges on the Victoria Avenue footpath. They also aranged a Skip at the entrance of Speckled Wood on Frederick Rd and have sucessfully filled five skip loads of metal and other fly tipped material from the Woodland as part of its Summer clean-up. Local dealers in scrap have been recycling the metal and removing it from the skip allowing more material to be removed. Local children have alsao started to get more involved with this process.

In Jun 2013 The Trust became a HMRC Registered Charity with Trustees this was a natural progression from its groups origin. The Trust joined forces with the SSPT volunteers to clean up the woodland and remove dumped material in the woodland.

Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust has the
following responsibilities:

1. Leading the campaign to redesignated Speckled
Wood as a protected Site of Special Scientific
Interest or Local Nature Reserve.
2. Acquiring land in Speckled Wood for establishing a
Local Nature Reserve.
3. Clearing footpaths and the stream, removing rubbish
and carrying out conservation work to improve the
woodland.
4. Creating natural habitat piles and protecting wildlife
habitat.
5. Creating Dry Hedging.
6. Writing Yearly Management Plan for
Speckled Wood and involving all sections of the local
population in its work and plans.
7. Supporting the Hastings Greenway project to create a
cycle and walkway link from Ore linking schools and the
Town Centre, running through Church Street.
8. Seeking support and assistance from organisations and
community groups to further the aims of the group.
9. Endeavour to persuade SEACHANGE to allow a
footpath on their land to join with Speckled Wood
footpaths.
10.Publically addressing the concerns of residents in
Frederick Road and surrounding areas to remove
traffic calming and replace with a better
solution of road narrowing.

The Trust Friends of Speckled Wood Management
Trust relies on Donations from the public to help
with its campaign. If you wish to donate to us you
can make a donation below:

Wildlife

Speckled Wood hosts a beautiful woodland of flora and fauna.

As the Wikipedia page now shows Speckled Woods ecology is a delicate dynamic wetland habitat of hundreds of varieties of wild life.

FOSWMT ecologists have been busy collecting fauna and flora and are now able to file these reports.

This has previously not been able to be done as the map reference points were not recognised. This has meant that the only record of wildlife were taken from developers' planning proposals and were clearly designed to maximise their chances.

Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust urgently need your support and vote to protect this fabulous wet, rare woodland and register it as a Site of Special Scientific Interest or Local Nature Reserve with Natural England. We can also if needed take your vote to the European Economic Community
and file a complaint under the Berne Convention asking for them to conserve the whole area under their European charters. We cannot do this on our own without your support. Your vote empowers us with the wish of more and more people to conserve this beatuful area.

YOU CAN SAVE THE SPECKLED WOOD

There is no government or body to protect the Speckled Wood, only
the local council and companies looking to carve it up. Help us plant a Tree for
the Future at Speckled Wood.

12 years ago resident groups launched a similar campaign to protect
Speckled Wood. Nobody thought they would succeed, but Speckled Wood was undeveloped. Even though it was zoned by council. Now in 2012 the council has included parts of it in their new plans